Mandatory quarantine has had an “amazing” effect in Western Australia, where life has been largely back to normal for six months.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Cork native Nicola Healy offered a snapshot of what could have been for Ireland if borders were closed last summer.
“It has been pretty good,” she said. “We are out, we are able to socialise, meet our friends, go out to shops and have people over to the house and stuff, so yeah, it is a lot different to home at the moment,” she said.
She said Perth locals followed the strict lockdown rules to the letter when they were first introduced – largely because they faced prosecution if they didn’t.
“Those fines are quite intense and it is not just the fines, it was nearly jail time,” she said.
“I think that is why people stuck to the rules – they weren’t going to pay out the money.
“What has really been shown to work here, and the reason we are living such a normal life, is that hotel quarantine.
“I just find that amazing. Anyone that comes in internationally right now is escorted to a hotel – there are different hotels in the city, all the big-name hotels – and they are quarantined for 14 days without leaving the hotel. That is why we have no community transmission as of this evening.”
People view the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition on Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Western Australia, 06-03-2020. Image: Zhou Dan/Xinhua News Agency/PA ImagesShe noted that anyone arriving in has to pay for their own 14-day quarantine.
Ms Healy is working as a nurse and is the Public Relations Officer for St Gabriel’s GAA club in the city.
She said the main lesson for anyone in Ireland who wants to see restrictions eased is to “stick by the rules.”
“Stay at home, don’t go outside that 5km rule – just stick to the rules,” she said.
“We stuck to the rules from March and mid-May and that is how we are where we are now.
“It was pretty hard to stick to because Perth is a beautiful area and it is nice to travel around but that Easter weekend last year, nobody left the metro city and we all stuck to the rules.”
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